Ori and the Will of the Wisps announced, about sad owls

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Ori and the Will of the Wisps was just announced at Microsoft’s E3 2017 conference. It’s the sequel to Ori and the Blind Forest and it seems to be about sad owls. You should watch the trailer below, because it’s beautiful.

Why are the owls so sad? It’s possibly to do with their ruined, miserable world, but I’m not sure. The description on the video above says that you’ll, “Embark on an all new adventure to discover the mysteries beyond the forest of Nibel, uncover the hidden truths of those lost, and unravel Ori’s true destiny.” Which isn’t a lot to go on. If only the sequel was called Ori and the Black Forest Gateau, then those owls would be happy.

The original Ori and the Blind Forest is a sidescrolling metroidvania platformer developed by Moon Studios, which begins with a beautiful, silent, Pixar-esque narrative that’ll break your heart, then turns into a balls-hard platformer about jumping really accurately between deadly spikes. It’s also gorgeous throughout, particularly its animations. Pip liked it, John loved it, and I wasn’t so sure.

But I’m intrigued by the sequel, because there were lots of things I liked about the original, and because the trailer above is striking. Check out that toad! Whether I’ll ever play the game is a different matter however, since it’s going to be a Windows 10 exclusive and I don’t have Windows 10. Hmm.

I went to an owl sanctuary a few years back at which all the owls were face down on the floor, as if depressed themselves. But the people working there told us they were sunbathing and I choose to believe that’s true.

I wouldn’t expect a Playstation or Linux or whatever version from a studio closely associated with MS, but I do hope they’ll avoid being exclusive to the Windows Store like they managed with the first game and its definitive edition. That place gives me the willies.

If it’s the latter, well screw them. If they wanted to encourage piracy, they’d be going the right way about it.

I already uninstalled Windows Store and wiped out any trace of anything to do with it from my Windows 10. There’s no way I’ll pander to their goals if they intend to ransom the game. I’ll just have to wait until they see sense.